Oil Pan Job... How bad?

[FlyingVolvo]

The old one fell apart in my hands, so obviously no other option.

But maybe if I glue those pieces back together with some Krazy Glue...

[FlyingVolvo]

So with a little select jacking, I'm now able to put on and pull off the pan very easily.

The only problem is getting it fully seated on the engine mount side, because of that fuel line.

DSCN4359.JPG (187.46 KiB) Viewed 1386 times

Also, like the text asks, does that o-ring look seated right? I coated it in oil and pressed it up there very firmly with wiggling and that's as far as it would go. The pickup tube bolts are on good, and tugging down on it gives no movement at all. Is it ok?

And for reference, here is how I jacked it up a little more to get the clearance. I actually jacked the engine mount directly. I don't know that it's 100% stable like that, so I wouldn't leave it jacked from that point from very long.

DSCN4360.JPG (165.01 KiB) Viewed 1386 times

[EstVolvo]

The oil pan looks very nice ! Hopefully your engine is good for many more miles!
How often have you changed oil?
The oil pick up tube gasket went deeper in on mine ... if I remember right.
I guess all gaskets on those engines between the block an the oil pan are destroyed - mine was bad but not as bad as yours.
It also seems that they weren't using enough sealant between the pan and the block - those black marks on the surface.
Do you have the chemical gasket remover now?
I reused oil cooler gaskets since they are easy to change. I haven't been back under the car so I don't know if they are o.k.
There is a square hole coming from the oil trap and continuing in the oil pan - check in there with a flashlight if it is clean.
You can insert piece of wood between the jack and the engine mount - so you could get rid of the jack.
I was surprised to read someones suggestion to reach in with a wrench between the oil pan and the block to loosen the oil pick up tube in order to loosen the oil pan - crazy.
Keep on wiping oil from the block and practicing with the oil pan installation?

[FlyingVolvo]

Oil on this car has always been changed at appropriate intervals, although there may have been some hard driving on some semi-synthetic oil. My last two changes were 9,000 miles on Pennzoil Ultra, and then 4000 on Pennzoil Platinum and then the oil pan job. The Pennzoil oils are superb and do a fantastic cleansing job. They really live up to the hype!

I took off the oil pickup tube and red-did it, it still looks the same but I am sure of it being in as far as it will go. I twisted and pushed it and it seems to be in there firmly now. When I first undid it, the old o-ring was so shriveled that the tube just fell out. Now even without bolts, the o-ring holds it in, so with bolts it seems very secure.

I've been using a combination of B12 Chemtool and a razor. I've got the majority of it off, but some will just not go and I fear damaging the surface if I go any harder with the razor. I don't think it will hurt to have tiny pieces of it left that are flush with the surface. There are no parts that are raised at all, it's all smooth.

I've got the oil pan installation down pretty well now. When my dad get's home he's going to help me do it for real, by holding the pan in place as I quickly thread a few bolts in.

I'm just nervous!

[EstVolvo]

Spray gasket remover is the best - all old crap on the surface starts boiling and loosening and there isn't going to be anything left at all.
I don't know anything about B12 Chemtool - does it make good job?
Are those PennZoil oils made to clean engines?
What kind of oil filters have you been using?

[FlyingVolvo]

Yeah, one of Pennzoil's big marketing schemes focuses on engine cleanliness. At least they aren't false advertising! I've used Pennzoil almost exclusively for the last 25,000 miles. I've never run any engine cleaners like SeaFoam or Marvel Mystery Oil.

I almost always use Mahle cartridge filter (Volvo OEM), except on the last change I used a Bosch because I was in a pinch.

The B12 works well at some of the crustier varnish, but so far nothing I've got works on the very, very thin discoloration from the old stuff. But like I said, I'm not going to worry about that too much, especially given the new sealant that will go all over it and into an imperfections.

[FlyingVolvo]

And just like that... it's all back together!

... well mostly!

Going to run to the dealer in the morning for new oil cooler o-rings, and then I'll be good to go. The seal-up job went pretty smoothly, no major issues!

I'm going to (slowly) compile all the pictures and info into a new thread so we can add this one to the database. We went through a TON of info here (7 pages), but it's all a little spread out and probably somewhat confusing to someone trying to do the repair from scratch.

[FlyingVolvo]

YIPEE!

It's alive! Got my o-rings this morning then fired it up, what an amazing feeling! It was totally silent! I have NEVER started the car after an oil change and NOT heard the engine tapping for a few seconds. This time, even with all the oil passages more or less empty, it was as quiet as can be!

Got it all warmed up, and no leaks that I can see! Will be monitoring in the weeks to come, but I am so thrilled!

I posted a new thread with all the info of this one condensed into one so others may attempt this.

[1997volvo850]

What an awesome write-up. I almost wish I needed to do this on my 850. A few questions.

The main reason you did this was clicking and bubbles. The idea is that the o-rings were
deteriorated and the oil was not getting distributed properly. So when I take my oil cap off
when the engine is running I see oil sloshing around all over the place. Is it the case I would
not see this if my o-rings were bad?

I'm just trying to get a sense for the symptoms that point to the need to do the oil pan job.
Is it just the o-rings? Or do folks do it just to clean the crap out of it after X miles? Other reasons?
Is this a maintenance item that Volvo dealers do periodically as preventative maintenance?

So according to your posts many of your o-rings deteriorated to the point of falling apart. I've
read some post on this site that claim synthetic oil doesn't lubricate the o-rings like traditional
oil. Is this a bunch of bull? Is there any correlation with oil type to have your o-rings deteriorate?

I've got an 850 with 230+K. I'm wondering if this is something I need to plan (budget) for? Is this
an absolute maintenance item for the 850 at some point?

Thanks

[FlyingVolvo]

What an awesome write-up. I almost wish I needed to do this on my 850. A few questions.

The main reason you did this was clicking and bubbles. The idea is that the o-rings were
deteriorated and the oil was not getting distributed properly. So when I take my oil cap off
when the engine is running I see oil sloshing around all over the place. Is it the case I would
not see this if my o-rings were bad?

I'm just trying to get a sense for the symptoms that point to the need to do the oil pan job.
Is it just the o-rings? Or do folks do it just to clean the crap out of it after X miles? Other reasons?
Is this a maintenance item that Volvo dealers do periodically as preventative maintenance?

So according to your posts many of your o-rings deteriorated to the point of falling apart. I've
read some post on this site that claim synthetic oil doesn't lubricate the o-rings like traditional
oil. Is this a bunch of bull? Is there any correlation with oil type to have your o-rings deteriorate?

I've got an 850 with 230+K. I'm wondering if this is something I need to plan (budget) for? Is this
an absolute maintenance item for the 850 at some point?

It's hard to tell. If anyone got in my car before I did this job, you probably wouldn't have been able to tell that there was anything wrong. I think curisotiy got the best of me here and so I dived into it as semi-preventative maintenance deal, but with a suspiscion that it was really required.

Usually the people who talk about doing this job have let it go a long way until it's really bad. So I'd say it's up to you, although it certainly can't hurt.

Thanks

There will always be oil sloshing around up there, I don't know if your car has the metal slots covering it (mine does) making it a little harder to see in there. I wouldn't use this as a test to know if your o-rings are shot though as it's rather subjective. I haven't really noticed anything different in looking through the fill hole before and after this job, but what is noticeable to me is how silent the engine is on start-ups compared to how it was. That and the oil pressure light goes off nearly instantly.

It's certainly not listed as a preventative maintenance item, however when I asked my dealer about it, they seemed to be very familiar with the procedure. A lot of people do end up removing the oil pan if there is known to be sludge in the engine since it tends to accumulate there. Sludge is more or less a thing of the past (especially in these engines) so long as you use a good oil and appropriate intervals. My car has always had good oil and good intervals, yet these o-rings were wrecked. Just the time, heat, and stress on them led them to deteriorate. Again, my symptoms were:

-On cold AND hot start-up I could hear the engine doing a tap-tap-tap noise for a few seconds, like a dry start after changing the oil
-Oil pressure light stays on for first 2-3 seconds of car being on before disappearing

And yes, I'd call bull on that synthetic myth. People will always create myths when they really know nothing about how it works, but that's a funny one! I've never heard of synthetic "not lubricating" as well. The fact of the matter is that rubber o-ring do eventually get hard and fall apart, totally regardless of the oil you run. It just happens, although I do suspect that a car with a turbo engine may lead to quicker deterioration simply due to the higher temperatures involved.

Hope this helps!